Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a Freeport man pleaded guilty today to aggravated vehicular homicide and other related charges for driving drunk and killing a 24-year-old woman as she crossed the street in March 2023.
Tyshaun Johashen, 32, pleaded guilty today before Judge Robert Bogle to charges of Aggravated Vehicular Homicide (a B felony), Assault in the Second Degree (a D violent felony), Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle in the First Degree (an E Felony) and Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated (an unclassified misdemeanor).
The defendant is due back for sentencing on October 13, 2023. The NCDA is recommending a sentence of seven to 21 years in prison.
“Mia Pollidore was simply crossing the street at 7:00 p.m. on her way to a deli when this defendant, speeding and at least three times the legal limit for alcohol, smashed his car into the 24-year-old woman,” DA Donnelly said. “At the time of the crash, Tyshaun Johashen’s license was suspended due to a pending DWI charge in Queens. Mia Pollidore had her entire life in front of her. We continue to express our condolences to the Pollidore family.”
DA Donnelly said that, according to the charges, on March 1, 2023, at approximately 7:02 p.m., the victim, 24-year-old Mia Pollidore, was walking westbound across Babylon Turnpike just south of the intersection of Babylon Turnpike and Carroll Street. The defendant, driving a 2018 Nissan Sentra, was highly intoxicated while driving southbound on Babylon Turnpike when he struck the victim as she crossed the street.
The victim suffered trauma to her head and legs and was pronounced deceased at the scene at 7:11 p.m.
Johashen was arrested at the scene by members of the Nassau County and Freeport Police Departments, and it was later determined that he was driving at least 60 miles per hour at the time of impact.
The posted speed limit in the area is 30 miles per hour.
The defendant’s blood alcohol content, taken more than three hours after the crash, was a .24.
At the time of the crash the defendant’s driver’s license was suspended pursuant to a DWI prosecution in Queens. That case is pending.
Senior Assistant District Attorneys Tara DePalo and Brianna Ryan of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau are prosecuting the case. The defendant is represented by Richard Langone, Esq.